Packer Central

Jordan Love Inactive for Packers at Titans

Quarterback Jordan Love will miss a second consecutive game due to a knee injury. Malik Willis will start. Jordan Morgan and Carrington Valentine also are inactive for the Packers.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love watches from the sideline during last week's victory over the Colts.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love watches from the sideline during last week's victory over the Colts. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love went through a pregame warmup but is inactive for Sunday’s game at the Tennessee Titans.

Malik Willis, who was drafted by the Titans in 2022, will make his second consecutive start.

Love was limited participation all week and was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report. However, his return from a knee injury sustained 16 days ago in Brazil will be put off for another week.

The Packers will host the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay’s inactives are Love, cornerback Carrington Valentine (ankle; doubtful), offensive lineman Jordan Morgan (shoulder; out), safety Kitan Oladapo, defensive end Brenton Cox, defensive tackle Colby Wooden and offensive tackle Travis Glover.

Mobility is a key piece for any quarterback. It’s not necessarily about scrambling for 11 yards on third-and-10 but the ability to run bootlegs and move in the pocket.

“That’s a huge part of my game and I think it’s very important to have when you’re out there in the game,” Love said this week. “You’d love to be able to just sit in the pocket and be a pocket-passer, but it’s just not realistic.

“There’s things that happen in the pocket where you’ve got to get out of there, avoid pressure, and sometimes you’ve got to move the sticks with your legs. So, there’s a lot of scenarios that come up and that’s a huge part of my game. So, I think that’s very important for me when I do get out there.”

Love practiced with a brace to provide stability to the sprained left knee sustained against the Eagles on Sept. 6. While he seemed to move well at practice, the injury will get another week to heal.

“It’s going to help protect me and keep me stable in everything I do, so might change my game a little bit,” Love said. “At the end of the day, I’m not a receiver that has to run all these crazy routes downfield, things like that, where I can stay in the pocket. But definitely affects mobility a little bit.”

Without Love, Willis will start against the team that drafted him in the third round in 2022. He started three games as a rookie, but the Titans drafted Will Levis last year and signed Mason Rudolph in free agency.

So, on Aug. 26, they sent Willis to the Packers for a seventh-round pick.

He called the Willis-Titans story line “fluff.”

“We go play however many plays in a game and it comes to one or two very important plays that may be, and that’s how you win or lose a game and that’s what it is,” Willis said. “But we leave all the other aspects to it for you guys, and that’s what it is.”

Behind Willis, the Packers beat the Colts 16-10 last week. The offense ran the ball 53 times against a porous Colts run defense. Tennessee’s run defense is much stronger than Indy’s, so Willis might have to play a bigger role.

“He’s calm on the sideline, which is good, (and) I think he’s calm out on the field, in the huddle,” quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said. “Obviously, he has some very good athletic ability, so if things break down he’s able to scramble and make plays, and he made some nice throws. So, all those things combined, it was a nice performance for his first game here.”

Quarterback Sean Clifford and cornerback Robert Rochell, who were elevated from the practice squad on Saturday to cover for the injuries to Love and Valentine, are active.

The Titans have a healthy roster. Only one player, running back Tyjae Spears (questionable; ankle), was given an injury designation on Friday. He will play, giving the Titans their one-two punch of Tony Pollard and Spears. 

So, their inactives are all backups.

More Green Bay Packers News

Malik Willis Revenge Game | This week’s big matchup | Malik Willis will start | Packers-Titans: Three reasons to worry | Packers-Titans: Three reasons for optimism | Elevated: Sean Clifford | Elevated: Robert Rochell | Josh Jacobs’ fumbling history | Jayden Reed and bait | Jordan Love questionable after practicing again | Does Vegas know something about Love? | NFC North power rankings | Eric Wilson, Edgerrin Cooper need more snaps | Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are “annoying” | Titans’ secondary will challenge Packers | High-priced QBs worth the money?

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.